Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Redondela to Pontevedra May 25 - 20kms

Karen and Dayton's (not so) Excellent Separate Vacation Adventures.

I have resigned myself to the fact that I am on my own little cross country train tour while Dayton finishes walking the Camino Portuguese. I have to admit I impressed myself on retracing my path back to the Redondela train station this morning, not without doubts, but I managed. I imagine Dayton should be even more impressed as I have not shown any directional aptitude on our previous Caminos. It was a quick and scenic little train ride and I did get a view of things I might have missed from the Camino path. As we chugged passed apartment building after apartment building, I noticed these large vegetable garden plots tended by, I presume, the tenants. How wonderful it must be able to pick your own tomatoes and beans right outside your apartment complex. From the Ponteverdra train station I found and followed the Camino markers into the old town and to our little hotel in a plaza by the tourist office and, I think, just a very short walk to the river. So popping a few naproxen and voltaren pills, to combat tendinitis pain, I set out for a limited tour of the nearby section of town. My little tour took me past a shoe repair where I got new cushy insoles and heel protectors for my boots, a considerable improvement on the thin hard inner soles that have been tramped down over a thousand kilometres.

Once again I parked myself at a cafe on the incoming Camino route and sure enough, shortly after noon hour, Dayton arrived with today's walking companion, Solveig, a lovely young lady from Sweden. We shared some drinks and snacks before Solveig left to walk another ten kilometres along the trail. Later in the afternoon we joined a small group of the Maltese contingent as they had an afternoon lunch of pulpo (octopus) and drinks. They are all such a lively and friendly group. Actually the larger Maltese group is divided into two contingents, one doing the last 100kms coming from the west, Sarria in Spain to Santiago and another, this group, doing the last 100kms from Tui, from the south. This group has fund raised and is doing their Camino for a cancer charity. The ambience of open-air cafes was 'enhanced' by the blessings of some of the ever present pigeons. The recipients of these blessings were surprisingly unimpressed when told that it was actually good luck to receive these 'gifts'.

80 kms. to Santiago.

Ria de Vigo. It goes into the Atlantic Ocean.

Dayton's hiking partner du jour, Solveig, from Sweden..

The beautiful paths in Galicia; Solveig and the greenery.

Pilgrim statue in the chapel honouring "la Peregrina", and all female pilgrims.